Well, Bless Poole's Beautiful Hide!

ONLY A "CALAMITY" would justify an interest-rate cut now, says St.
Louis Federal Reserve chief William Poole.

In which case, he either liquidated his personal stock investments before
June...or the guy's got some real hide.

Fed Funds Target vs. Effective Fed Funds

"The daily effective federal funds rate is a volume-weighted average of rates
on trades arranged by major brokers," says the New York Fed. And as you can,
it's slipped sharply below target...closer to the current yield on 10-year
Treasuries, in fact.

So why does the US central bank insist in lending fresh cash to the money
markets through its open-market operations? The Fed's put in $76 billion over
the last week, ostensibly to keep the Fed funds rate on target by making money
more readily available.

Some $24 billion of that liquidity is still outstanding right now (as of 10:45
EST, Thurs 16 Aug.), with the latest $5 billion being auctioned for a repurchase
agreement just ahead of today's open.

Formerly City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning in London and head of
editorial at the UK's leading financial advisory for private investors, Adrian
Ash is the head of research at BullionVault,
where you can buy gold
today vaulted in Zurich on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees.

About BullionVault

BullionVault is the
secure, low-cost gold and silver exchange for private investors. It enables
you to buy and sell professional-grade bullion at live prices online, storing
your physical property in market-accredited, non-bank vaults in London, New
York and Zurich.

By February 2011, less than six years after launch, more than 21,000 people
from 97 countries used BullionVault,
owning well over 21 tonnes of physical gold (US$940m) and 140 tonnes of physical
silver (US$129m) as their outright property. There is no minimum investment
and users can deal as little as one gram at a time. Each user's unique holding
is proven, each day, by the public reconciliation of client property with formal
bullion-market bar lists.

BullionVault is a
full member of professional trade body the London Bullion Market Association
(LBMA). Its innovative online platform was recognized in 2009 by the UK's prestigious
Queen's Awards for Enterprise. In June 2010, the gold industry's key market-development
body the World Gold Council (www.gold.org)
joined with the internet and technology fund Augmentum Capital, which is backed
by the London listed Rothschild Investment Trust (RIT Capital Partners), in
making an $18.8 million (£12.5m) investment in the business.

Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it.
Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make
will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already
been overtaken by events - and must be verified elsewhere - should you choose
to act on it.